Research paper of Prof. Jawoo Park’s team published in Food Quality and Preference

A research paper entitled “Human-like” is powerful: The effect of anthropomorphism on psychological closeness and purchase intention in insect food marketing co-authored by Zining Wang (master's student at Chuo graduate school of Commerce) and Prof. Jaewoo Park, has been published in Food Quality and Preference, one of the top journals in food psychology.

This study examined whether and how anthropomorphism, one of the most widely used marketing tactics for product promotions, affects consumers’ purchase intentions for insect foods. The results of these two studies demonstrate that anthropomorphic packaging can increase consumers’ purchase intentions for insect foods. Moreover, the effect of anthropomorphism on purchase intention was mediated by perceived psychological closeness to insect food. Our study demonstrates the moderating effect of food neophobia. Specifically, when an individual has a high food neophobia score, the effect of psychological closeness on purchase intention is weakened. This study is the first to demonstrate that anthropomorphic packaging can be a desirable tactic to increase consumers’ purchase intentions for insect foods, and reveals how and when the tactic is effective in promoting these foods.